Ezekiel 2:8-3:21

Introduction

God’s glory had filled:

the Tabernacle — Exodus 40:34 “34 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”

then at the dedication of Solomon’s Temple when it took the place of the tabernacle as the dwelling place of Yahweh— 2 Chronicles 7:1–2 “1 Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house. 2 And the priests could not enter into the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the LORD’S house.”

Now with the Temple back in Jerusalem and the people of Judah exiled, the vision Yahweh gave Ezekiel says God is with them here beside the river Chebar

An starting with the creatures and the wheels beside them, what could look like to Ezekiel like the temple chariot all the way up the to throne at the top with the fire shining as the appearance of a man which Ezekiel says is like the appearance of the glory of God, Yahweh reminds Ezekiel that He is sovereign over all creation and every thing that happens

the fire in the storm of judgement from the north where Babylon was on the sons of Isreal for all their idolatry and the shame of all their sins and yet there’s still the reminder of a promise..

Ezekiel 1:28 “28 As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake.”

And by grace and mercy the Spirit stands up Ezekiel and tells him:

who He’s sending him to — the sons of Israel, a rebellious people "impudent children and stiffhearted,"

and what he’s to do — tell them “thus saith the Lord God”

and whether they listen or not, rebel or not — Ezekiel 2:5 “5 And they, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet shall know that there hath been a prophet among them.”

Ezekiel 2:6 “6 And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.”

no matter the suffering you feel, don’t be afraid or disheartened or discouraged — no matter what YOU SPEAK MY WORDS!

Then a warning to Ezekiel…

Ezekiel Fed the Sweet Scroll

Ezekiel 2:8–3:3 KJV

8 But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house: open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. 9 And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; 10 And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. 1 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. 2 So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. 3 And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness.

Ezekiel eating the scroll is his first act of obedience and encouragement by Yahweh

And the scroll was completely covered by writing — Ezekiel couldn’t add anything to it

Scrolls didn’t taste better then than they sound now and it was plenty of bad news — lamentations and woe

And Ezekiel ate it anyway and — and the message filled him up and even though it’s hard God’s word is sweet to our souls

Second Commission — Poor Listeners

Ezekiel 3:4–9 KJV

4 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them. 5 For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel; 6 Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. 7 But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not hearken unto me: for all the house of Israel are impudent and hardhearted. 8 Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. 9 As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead: fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.

Ezekiel get’s his second commission

strange speech — foreigners would have listened to him but he’s not going to them

but he’s to go to the “house of Israel”; Supposed to be the people of Yahweh but they’re not going to listen because of how impudent and hardhearted they are. They won’t listen to Yahweh so they sure won’t listen to this prophet

And we all know how much harder it feels to witness to family, we know them AND THEY know us, better than strangers

But again, Yahweh encourages Ezekiel in 8-9 — we talk about facing difficult situations and this is the same. God will strengthen him to lean in to the difficulty and do it anyway

Third Commission — Lifted by the Spirit

Ezekiel 3:10–15 KJV

10 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears. 11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear. 12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place. 13 I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against them, and a noise of a great rushing. 14 So the spirit lifted me up, and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the LORD was strong upon me. 15 Then I came to them of the captivity at Telabib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar, and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

Son of man — like the more than 90 times he’s called this title; Ezekiel is reminded he’s human

he’s to receive the words of Yahweh in his heart and memorize them

14-15—in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit

Ezekiel takes seven days sitting there at Chebar getting over his bitterness and anger and coming to terms with how hard and hopeless the mission feels.

Seven days also to be amazed at the hand of the LORD being strong upon him! How big and how good God is who will be with him through it all!

Let’s not frown too much on Ezekiel and think we’re much better.

I’m convicted at how much I pout and wrestle sometimes when the LORD nudges me to pray for, give, or witness to somebody

“I will later when I ‘get time’”; “I don’t have the money at the moment or at all”; “I don’t want to embarrass them or myself”; “what if they get mad”

So let’s show some grace for him considering how much it’s going to cost and how hard it’s going to be and who he has to go to.

Fourth Commission — Watchman for Israel

Ezekiel 3:16–21 KJV

16 And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 17 Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. 18 When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 19 Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. 20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. 21 Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

A watchman’s job was to stand on the wall and to sound the alarm of the coming enemy so the people could run to shelter.

During WWII Air raid wardens were ordinary British men and women, like teachers, shopkeepers, and homemakers, who volunteered starting in 1937 to protect their neighborhoods during World War 2, and most of them did it unpaid while still working regular jobs. They enforced blackout rules at night, sounded the alarm with whistles and rattles, guided people to shelters during bombing raids, gave first aid, reported bomb damage to rescue crews, and used bells to signal “all clear”. They helped keep people safe, calm, and hopeful.

It’s easy to get caught up in scorekeeping here. What do I mean by that:

Most of the times I’ve read this passage since I’ve been saved my thoughts go like this:

“This wicked man will ‘die in his iniquity’. Well I don’t want that, so what do I need to do? OK, I have to witness, because if I don’t, his bloods on my hands. Roger that, If I do witness, then his life will be saved and his blood’s not on my hands!”

But here we see the wicked AND the righteous. If you are like me, and have gone down that first track for the wicked, well, then we need to figure out what I have to do and what the result is for the righteous.

The problem is that by zeroing in on the points like that, we miss that the wicked and the righteous is EVERYONE!

The “air raid warden” didn’t try to alert the fine, upstanding citizens and not the thieves and drunks, they sounded the alarm for EVERYONE.

We have no idea who’s saved and not, other than ourselves. So we have to sound the warning to everyone.

And to “live” and not die here, isn’t just the difference between heaven and hell for the wicked.

It’s to proclaim the faith and goodness of God to the righteous to help them keep “calm and hopeful”

What I want us to see this morning, is that while all those thoughts matter somehow, the context of this passage tells us the focus is on Ezekiel’s responsibility to preach to all regardless of their response!

Ezekiel’s job (and ours) is to give the warning and shout the praise to ALL. That’s what we’re held accountable to.

And you know what, that’s not always easy and sure not always fun and we fight against doing it to. But we have to be strengthened by the LORD and lean into the hard and do it anyway.

Ezekiel 3:22–27 KJV

22 And the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee. 23 Then I arose, and went forth into the plain: and, behold, the glory of the LORD stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of Chebar: and I fell on my face. 24 Then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. 25 But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou shalt not go out among them: 26 And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover: for they are a rebellious house. 27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel gets up and goes outside, and behold, “the glory of the LORD” again! Ezekiel’s response, hitting the ground on his face and again it takes the Spirit standing him up, can’t do it himself.

Yahweh tells him:

to go lock himself in his house — he’s only to serve in public as a prophet of Yahweh

that he’ll be tied up — only free at God’s will

he’ll be unable to speak — he won’t be able to reprove or exhort unless God allows

Ezekiel is a slave of God. And while some hear that today and are put off because it “feels like they can’t do anything” and that sounds horrible;

But Paul reminds of the options:

Romans 6:16 “16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”

We’re always slaves to either sin or righteousness

Romans 6:20–21 “20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.”

We’re slaves to sin when we’re lost — only able to act according to our sin nature that leads to death

Romans 6:17–18 “17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.”

By grace when we’re saved we’re slaves to righteousness that leads to life

“He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forebear” — when they hear the truth preached by Ezekiel, it will be wholly and completely as the mouthpiece of God Himself

and however they respond, they are wholly and completely accountable to God. They act and are judged one hundred percent based on who they are

Whatever God calls us to do: rebuke or commend; we must do it — but ONLY on God’s terms and in HIS approved way!

Conclusion

We are called to be watchmen too!

Our job is to witness to the glory of God and that the judgement of God is just as certain as the blessings of God. To brag on Jesus and the work HE has done to secure safety and life for those that believe on Him. To tell of the wonderful grace and mercy and help and hope we have to live our lives even in the darkest, most trying times until we get to heaven!

We have to remember that we can’t bring dead people to life, It’s God that does that:

Ephesians 2:1–2 “1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”

What people do with it is between God and them. They are free to act according to the nature within them. They are responsible for their response; but WE are responsible for telling them the truth!